The Return of Marco Polo's World

December 1, 2017
The veteran political affairs journalist returns with a collection of essays that have been published in the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the National Interest, and other venues.Thoughtful, unsettling, but not apocalyptic analyses of world affairs flow steadily off the presses, and this is a superior example. Over the years, Kaplan (Earning the Rockies: How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World, 2017), a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, has written several. Except for a long, insightful first chapter, these essays appeared between one and 15 years ago, so they say nothing about the post-Trump world, but few have aged poorly. Marco Polo claimed to travel from Italy to China across central Asia, returning over the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. To Kaplan, this journey encompassed the great Eurasian land mass whose faded empires (Turkey, Iran), rising imperial powers (Russia, China), and failed states (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, etc.) have replaced Europe as the area most critical to American interests. Although aware, American leaders still continue to get it wrong. After apologizing for getting it wrong himself--he supported invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan--Kaplan devotes most essays to explaining the proper approach. A "realist" a la his hero, Henry Kissinger, Kaplan maintains that Americans must lead the world only because, if we don't, another great power will step in. He emphasizes that today's greatest international threat is not tyranny but anarchy. Nations need effective government more than free elections; in its absence, American efforts to promote democracy through military (Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam) or quasi-military means (Libya, Syria) always fail.Enough time has passed for some of Kaplan's forecasts to develop cracks--e.g., China has not yet stumbled--but much rings true, and all are presented with enough verve and insight to tempt readers to set it aside to reread in a few years.

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February 19, 2018
This volume compiles 16 major essays on America’s foreign policy from national security commentator Kaplan (Earning the Rockies). All but one were originally published in outlets such as the Atlantic and National Interest. The title essay was originally written for the Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment. In the first section, entitled “Strategy,” Kaplan argues that, since the end of the Cold War, the globe’s map has fundamentally changed: “Europe disappears, Eurasia coheres.” The result is an “increasingly crowded and interconnected world” whose linkages are becoming so complex that the U.S. will be unable to exert pressure in the ways it has since WWII. Kaplan applies and supports these ideas in case studies of Vietnam and Iraq, asserting that the extravagant cost of maintaining maritime supremacy in the new world structure is leading to the “elegant decline” of America’s military might. Further sections delve into the experience of soldiers (“War and Its Costs”), appreciatively profile political scientists (“Thinkers”), and comment on the developments of the last few years (“Reflections” and “Marco Polo Redux”). Such wide horizons, and Kaplan’s decision not to update the previously published essays, preclude a central line of argument. The result is instead an overview of thoughtful, multilayered positions and perspectives evolving through changing circumstances. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents.

February 1, 2018
In his new collection of essays, best-selling foreign-affairs scholar and travel-writer Kaplan (Earning the Rockies, 2017) considers geopolitical developments since the end of the Cold War and urges a reinvigorated realpolitik in response to emerging foreign policy challenges. His bleak but lucid core thesis is that the power dynamics of the future may look less like those of the Eurocentric twentieth century and more like those of the distant past. Wealth and influence, he argues, will be increasingly concentrated in Asia as the supercontinent of Eurasia becomes the all-important battlespace of trade and conflict, and empire will reassert its primacy as the organizing principle of world affairs. Vulnerable to environmental and migratory pressures, and whipsawed by constant technological change, democratic nation-states will struggle to manage the basics of governance. Anarchy and utopianism, not tyranny by the state, will be the greatest threats. On adjacent fronts, Kaplan offers reverent yet nuanced profiles of Henry Kissinger and Samuel Huntington, and, in Rereading Vietnam, a thoughtful appraisal of some war memoirs. An astute, powerfully stated, and bracing presentation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2018

Atlantic contributing editor and member of the U.S. Navy's Executive Panel, Kaplan (The Coming Anarchy) explains through 16 essays the world's changing balance of power as a result of cultural shifts, migration, and the redistribution and availability of resources. The essays are largely focused on American interests and involvement on the world political stage, possible U.S. military involvement, and recommendations for preserving power. Kaplan makes some insightful observations, and his command and understanding of world historical precedent makes many of these writings truly fascinating. His recommendations are generally hawkish (or "realist"), highlighting the need for a strong and conspicuous Navy, as well as professing the inevitability of war. However, regardless of one's political leanings or thoughts regarding the necessity of war, Kaplan's recommendations are firmly backed by historical citations and a keen understanding of the current political landscape. All in all, this is much more a book about military strategy and positioning than politics, although the author does touch on (then president-elect) Donald Trump's posturing as a "foreign policy realist" before demonstrating why he is in fact nothing of the sort. VERDICT Recommended for readers of political science, world history, military history, current affairs, and American history. [See Prepub Alert, 9/25/17.]--Benjamin Brudner, Curry Coll. Lib., Milton, MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017

Comprising 17 essays published in venues from the Atlantic to the Washington Post, this new work by foreign correspondent and best-selling author Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts; Asian Cauldron) addresses American foreign policy over the past two decades. Most interesting: an essay about the tilting power dynamics among China, Eurasia, and America, written for the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment and now being made public. A 2006 essay, "When North Korea Falls," might also catch the eye.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.